Sean Roby saved the Eugene Emeralds from their first series loss to a team not named the Everett AquaSox.
The Emeralds won in miraculous, walk-off fashion on Sunday, taking down the Hillsboro Hops 6-5 at PK Park to end a two-game skid and secure a series split. They trailed 4-0 early, and continued trailing all the way until the ninth inning. Roby stepped up to the plate with runners on second and third and one out, and drove in both runs with a double to send the fans at PK Park home happy.
Amazingly, all six games in the series were decided by one run. And each team won three games. That’s about as close as it gets.
The Hops had a major leaguer in their lineup — catcher Carson Kelly, batting second on a rehab assignment. Kelly was a University of Oregon recruit in 2012, but never attended UO as he opted to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals instead. He got a glimpse on Sunday of what it could have been like to play at PK Park had he chosen to go to college.
Conner Nurse handled him in the first inning, taking four pitches to strike him out looking.
The second pitch Nurse threw in the second inning, however, was hit out of sight. Left fielder Heath Quinn didn’t even move as the ball soared far past the fence and into the parking lot, giving the Hops a 1-0 lead.
After two more hits, another ball was demolished, this time to the other side of the ballpark. It stayed inside the right field foul pole for a three-run bomb as Hillsboro jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
The Emeralds’ Franklin Labour, fresh off striking out four times on Saturday, drew a walk in the second. Carter Aldrete hit a two-out single to move him to third, and Labour came home on a passed ball to get the Emeralds on the board.
Nurse worked around three walks in the next three innings to make it through five innings without any more runs on the board.
The Emeralds’ No. 8 and 9 hitters came out swinging in the bottom of the fifth. Tyler Flores and Nolan Dempsey led off the inning with back-to-back homers, making it a one-run game.
Nurse ran into some trouble in the sixth after Aldrete made an error and a single put runners on the corners with one out. Travis Perry replaced him, and allowed only a sacrifice fly by Kelly that brought the Emeralds’ deficit back to two.
Aldrete drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the seventh and Flores was hit by a pitch, but the Emeralds stranded two runners. Tyler Fitzgerald connected on a ball, but got just under it as it stayed in the ballpark.
Ricardo Genoves hit a one-out single in the eighth, and Labour walked to put two runners on. The crowd went into an emphatic chant of “Ball five!” as receiver Bobby Ay had thrown four straight balls. They made it all the way to “Ball seven!” before he finally threw a strike, eliciting a loud cheer from the crowd.
Ay struck out Heath Quinn for the second out, and was pulled from the game. As Ay walked back to the dugout, the fans chanted “Left! Right!” with every step he took, mercilessly heckling the minor league reliever.
Aldrete came through with two outs, lining a single into left field to make it a one-run game again. But Flores struck out as the Emeralds couldn’t quite stage an eighth-inning comeback.
Brett Auerbach drew a four-pitch walk in the ninth, bringing back the “Ball five!” chant. After five straight balls, Fitzgerald doubled down the left field line. Auerbach had to hold up at third, but the Emeralds suddenly had the tying run on third base and the potential winning run on second with one out.
Roby stepped up to the plate, 0-for-4 in the game thus far. After drawing a 3-0 count, he drove one the other way that dropped in for a two-run, walk-off double. The team mobbed him at second base as the Emeralds miraculously salvaged the final game of the series and secured a split with Hillsboro.
The Emeralds will now go back on the road for a crucial seven-game series against the AquaSox. Eugene trails Everett by 6.5 games in the High-A West standings. Game 1 starts on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m., with a doubleheader on Wednesday starting at 5:05 p.m.
